WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is sending additional federal prosecutors to Minnesota to assist the U.S. attorney's office there with the ongoing investigations into allegations of fraud and misuse of federal welfare funds.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement Wednesday that the department "will deliver severe consequences in Minnesota" and stands "ready to deploy to any other state where similar fraud schemes are robbing American taxpayers.”
The administration was dispatching prosecutors to the state as the House Oversight Committee was holding a hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill about the fraud allegations, which are focused largely on the Somali community. The committee's witnesses included Republican lawmakers in Minnesota's House, as well as a former special counsel at the Justice Department.
The allegations of fraud gained national attention in recent weeks after a right-wing influencer released a video from child care facilities across Minnesota and it went viral. It purportedly showed day care facilities run by members of the Somali community that received state and federal funds despite not being operational. The FBI began investigating the suspected fraud late last month, and the Department of Health and Human Services also announced that it was freezing all federal child care payments to the state.
The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families said Friday that investigators determined that child care facilities involved in the recent fraud allegations were operating normally. “Children were present at all sites except for one — that site, was not yet open for families for the day when inspectors arrived,” the agency said in a statement about the centers highlighted in the viral video.
The Justice Department has been involved in yearslong investigations into allegations of fraud in several federal benefits programs in the state, amounting to hundreds of millions dollars in stolen funds, it has alleged. One of the probes, focused on an alleged $250 million fraud scheme involving pandemic-era child nutrition funds, has resulted in 78 arrests, the state U.S. attorney's office has said.
Citing the attention on the fraud allegations, Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, announced Monday that he was ending his re-election bid for a third term in order to fully focus on the work of being governor, saying he would not be able to give a campaign his full attention.
“Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences,” he said.
Asked about the viral video, Walz's office late last month defended his response to the allegations of fraud in the state, saying he had "worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action" and had "strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed.”
At the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., slammed what he referred to as “Somali fraud” in his state at a news conference with other House leaders.
“Send them home,” Emmer said, referring to Somali immigrants alleged to have taken part in fraud or who he believes have not assimilated into American culture.
Emmer, the Republican whip, also said Walz's decision to drop his re-election campaign would not absolve him of accountability.
“Walz is running scared,” Emmer said. “But let me be clear. Tim Walz dropping out of the Minnesota’s governor’s race will not exempt him from the storm of accountability that is heading his way. Between the Oversight Committee’s congressional investigation and President Trump’s decisive action, Walz can try to run, but he’s not going to be able to hide for long.”
During the hearing Wednesday, Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., accused Walz, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and state Democratic leaders of being "asleep at the wheel or complicit in these crimes."
They "failed Minnesotans and all Americans, handing millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudsters," Comer said, adding, "The American people demand jail time for those who stole their hard-earned money and accountability for officials who sat by as resources were drained."
Walz’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Responding to GOP attacks about overlooking fraud in Minnesota, Ellison's press secretary, Brian Evans, said Ellison and a Medicaid fraud control unit have prosecuted more than 300 Medicaid fraud cases.
"Attorney General Ellison has put fraudsters in prison while defending our tax dollars and the services they pay for. The authority of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office is primarily civil, rather than criminal," Evans said. "As such, Attorney General Ellison has also gone after bad actors in the private sector who have ripped off the people of Minnesota, from landlords who exploited tenants to payday lenders who violated the law and preyed on low-income families to contractors who take payments for work they never complete and more. Attorney General Ellison has been working hard to combat fraud and protect the pocketbooks of Minnesotans across our state, and he will continue to do so."
Comer said later in the hearing that he would subpoena Ellison if he does not respond to the committee's request for testimony.
Democratic lawmakers denounced Republicans over what they said was lack of oversight in other states and accused them of discriminating against Somalis.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the committee's ranking member, said fraud is a "threat" across government. Garcia suggested Republicans were highlighting fraud in states run by Democrats but ignoring it elsewhere.
"Republicans also have a president who has pardoned or reduced jail time for 25 criminals convicted of fraud in this year alone," he said.
Garcia criticized the Trump administration over its decision to withhold federal benefits to Minnesota as a consequence.
"What we should not do is use fraud as an excuse to rip away aid from innocent people who follow the rules and need help in our society," he said.
Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., accused Republicans of exhibiting "xenophobia" during the contentious hearing, citing some lawmakers' questions to witnesses seeking their opinions of Somalis.
"We might as well say: 'What is your opinion of Jews? What is your opinion of Black people? What is your opinion of Latinos?'" Mfume said. "That sort of thing, although it may sound good and play to the issue, creates ... a slippery slope."
Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., echoed some of the other criticisms Democrats at the hearing were leveling at the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers.
"I think it’s important to pull back the curtain a little bit about what is actually going on in this hearing and its coordination with the administration, that this is about, one, demonizing political opponents in Democratic states during a major election cycle; two, about demonizing the immigrant community to support cruel and illegal mass deportation policies; and three, it’s about demonizing poor people and struggling families to justify taking away the basic programs that are helping them survive in this country."
At the White House briefing Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said several Cabinet officials have traveled to or plan to visit Minnesota over the allegations, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent next week.
"This is an all-hands-on-deck effort from the entire administration to get to the bottom of this and ensure that the ripping off of taxpayers in the state of Minnesota, and it won’t just be Minnesota, it’ll be any state across this country where fraud has taken place, and we are protecting law-abiding taxpaying American citizens," she said.
At the briefing, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins criticized alleged fraud in programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and suggested that the administration would expand investigations into other Democratic-run states.
“Clearly, you all have been writing about Minnesota,” she said. “California’s next; we’re looking at New York, some other states. The amount of fraud in all of these programs is absolutely stunning.”
